7 out of 10 Young Adults Say "Owning a Home is Essential"... More than Half Say "Impossible Without Parental Help"

Seoul Institute Analysis: 'Prioritizing Homeownership Over Marriage and Childbirth'

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] More than 7 out of 10 young people in Seoul consider 'owning a home' essential, and over 30% cited 'asset accumulation and preservation' as a primary reason. However, the proportion of those who have given up on owning a home is higher than the national average. In particular, more than half of Seoul's youth believe that owning a home is impossible without parental support.

According to the Seoul Infographics series published on the 1st by the Seoul Institute, titled ‘What Does a Home Mean to Seoul Youth?’ and ‘What Do Relationships, Emotions, and Isolation Mean to Seoul Youth?’, the desire to own a home among Seoul youth was 73.9%, higher than the national figure of 68.6%. Meanwhile, the response rates for ‘Having children is a must’ and ‘Marriage is a must’ were 38.2% and 38.4% in Seoul, respectively, lower than the national rates of 41.8% and 42.0%.

This Seoul Infographics analysis is based on responses from 3,520 young people nationwide and 676 in Seoul, aged 18 to 34, collected last year by the Korea Youth Policy Institute (using publicly available data from Statistics Korea).

Regarding reasons for needing to own a home, Seoul youth prioritized ‘asset accumulation and preservation.’ Seoul youth responded with ‘asset accumulation and preservation’ (30.3%) and ‘burden of rising rent’ (28.0%) as top reasons, whereas nationwide, ‘being able to live without moving’ (27.5%) and ‘asset accumulation and preservation’ (26.1%) were cited as important reasons. There were also differences in the meaning attributed to a home. Seoul youth perceived a home as a ‘space for rest’ (29.8%), while 26.7% of youth nationwide saw it as a ‘space to be with family.’

However, the proportion of Seoul youth who own homes was lower than the national average, and the proportion who gave up on owning a home exceeded the national figure. Among Seoul youth, 4.5% owned a home, 3.3 percentage points lower than the national 7.8%, and the proportion who gave up on owning a home was 15.4% in Seoul, 4.5 percentage points higher than the national 10.9%.

Additionally, 53.0% of Seoul youth responded that ‘owning a home is impossible without parental help.’ More than half of respondents judged that while owning a home is necessary for asset accumulation, it is difficult to achieve without parental support. The proportion of housing-related costs such as mortgage or jeonse deposits currently borne by parents was also 44.4% in Seoul, over 10 percentage points higher than the national 34.3%.

Furthermore, the survey found that the top requirement for a happy life chosen by Seoul youth was ‘self-achievement and sense of purpose’ (23.9%), while nationwide youth ranked ‘economic power’ (28.1%) highest. The Seoul Institute analyzed that the majority of youth prioritize ‘reality over ideals,’ ‘results over process,’ and ‘individual over group,’ with these tendencies being stronger in Seoul than nationwide.

Among negative emotional experiences in daily life, ‘everything was difficult’ (37.3%) was the highest among Seoul youth, followed by ‘had trouble sleeping’ (33.9%) and ‘felt unable to take any action’ (24.0%). Also, the rates of solitary eating and drinking over a week were 65.6% and 21.3% respectively for Seoul youth, somewhat higher than the national rates of 53.7% and 15.0%.

Meanwhile, 2.9% of Seoul youth were identified as ‘reclusive isolated youth’ who do not leave their rooms or only go out to nearby convenience stores. Among these ‘reclusive isolated youth’ in Seoul, 32.0% had been isolated for over three years, with the main reasons for isolation being ‘unable to find employment’ (41.6%) and ‘poor human relationships’ (17.7%), ranking first and second respectively.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.